In a first-of-its-kind crackdown, the Bhopal Cyber-Crime Branch arrested five individuals for allegedly supplying mule bank accounts to cybercriminals, facilitating fraud across multiple states. The operation was executed under the central government’s Samanvay Portal (NCCRP JMIS) initiative and marks a significant move in disrupting the cyber fraud infrastructure.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Akhil Patel confirmed that this proactive, suo motu operation led to the registration of four FIRs, targeting the illegal circulation of accounts used by scammers to dupe victims nationwide.
Arrested Accused:
Karan Valmiki – Kolar (held 3 mule accounts)
Arun Borde – Om Nagar, Kolar (held 4 mule accounts, helped others open and sell accounts)
Tarun Rai – Shyam Nagar, Habibganj (opened and sold accounts to fraudsters)
Syed Arshad – Jehangirabad (mule account holder)
Aarish Khan – Jehangirabad (opened and sold mule accounts)
Using complaint data flagged by the Samanvay Portal, the cyber branch issued bank notices and verified flagged accounts. Many accounts traced to Bhopal were used in fraud cases registered in other states. Due to jurisdiction issues, FIRs were often not filed by the affected states.
“Now, we will not only file FIRs against mule account holders but also investigate whether proper KYC norms were followed by the banks,” said DCP Patel.
The police now plan to expand this operation to pre-activated SIM cards, which are commonly used in cyber fraud. Authorities hope that if other districts replicate this model, cyber fraud could be curbed more effectively across India.
